Amphead Entertainment

News and Announcements

Coming up...

AmpHead Launches Physical Distribution

Swish Group is pleased to announce that its digital music subsidiary Swish AmpHead has increased the scale of its music distribution operations in Australasia with the expansion of its online digital music distribution business into the distribution of physical CD's to some of Australia's leading music retailers.

Swish AmpHead which, through its exclusive agreement with USA based digital music company The Orchard, is already the largest distributor of independent digital music in Australasia with over 1,000,000 music titles from 20,000 artists and 6,000 labels, will expand its operations in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific by extending its existing local and international on-line digital music distribution business into the distribution of a wide range of titles on CD.

It is expected that the expansion of the Company's digital music distribution business into the complimentary physical distribution of music through retail stores will increase the Company's annualised revenues by approximately $2 million and earnings by $600,00 to $700,000 and strengthen Swish AmpHead's position as one of the leading digital music distributors in Australasia.

Gary Mackenzie CEO of Swish AmpHead said "I am delighted not only to be able to offer Australian artists and labels digital distribution into 73 countries throughout the world but also the ability to offer leading artists and labels from those countries physical distribution of their music throughout Australia and the Pacific. This expansion of the business enables the Company to provide a comprehensive digital and physical distribution service for local and international labels and artists".

Ericsson signs local indie music aggregator

A deal between Ericsson and global music aggregator The Orchard has acquired an Australian flavour, Orchard affiliate Swish AmpHead announcing an arrangement to supply tunes to the vendor's local customers. Already providing tracks to the likes of BigPond, Destra and iTunes in the Australian market, the new deal provides Swish AmpHead with a link into users of Ericsson's hosted music delivery solutions. Ericsson has grouped together partners such as Napster, Sony Ericsson, Pocket Group and major music labels to support the hosted platform, which has thus far been launched by Swisscom, Sunrise, Tele2, TeliaSonera and Maxis Communications. Ericsson has supplied 3G mobile infrastructure in Australia to Telstra and Hutchison Telecom. AmpHead has an exclusive distribution arrangement with The Orchard in Australia, a deal that allows it to sell more than 1 million independent audio and video tracks into the local market. Reciprocally, Australian artists and labels signed by AmpHead are provided with The Orchard's distribution services in about 73 countries. The arrangement with Ericsson covers track downloads as well as audio, ring tone content and video streaming and downloads. According to Swish AmpHead CEO Gary Mackenzie, "Swish AmpHead is delighted to work with Ericsson to offer such an extensive and diverse range of music content on one of the world's largest digital technology platforms." Ericsson Australia Strategic Marketing Manager Daniel Segal added, "this partnership with Swish AmpHead enables Ericsson to distribute music from thousands of independent labels. Ericsson strives to offer our operator and media customers a great music experience, and this will significantly broaden our content catalogue."

April 2007: AmpHead Music will officially open its Publishing and Synchronisation department with an industry launch in Sydney. We are extremely happy to have joining us, the Orchard founder and industry icon, Richard Gottehrer (Producer of Blondie, The GoGos, The Raveonettes and original founder of seminal label, Sire Records) to kick the department off with a bang!

For further info, see our Publishing and Synchronisation page on the website or email freyja@ampheadmusic.com

top

Current….

March 2007: AmpHead Music Group (AEG) is launched to complete the services of AmpHead Music heralding its Physical Distribution department.

AmpHead Music and the Orchard are excited to announce the following new global partnerships:

top

March 2007: GREENSLEEVES SELECTS THE ORCHARD FOR GLOBAL DIGITAL MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION

Deal Brings The Orchard Three Decades of Jamaican Music Heritage Including Seminal Tracks from Yellowman, Shabba Ranks, Tippa Irie, Gregory Isaacs and Beenie Man

Under the deal, the entire Greensleeves catalogue is now available at all leading digital music stores worldwide through The Orchard. The landmark label - which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary - joins The Orchard's other distributed imprints including Shanachie, Ariwa and Reggae Sunsplash, to make the industry's largest and most comprehensive reggae offering for digital retail, mobile and synchronization licensing.

Greensleeves has built a formidable catalogue featuring recordings from many of Jamaica's most renowned artists including Dr. Alimantado, Shaggy, Shabba Ranks, Gregory Isaacs, Tippa Irie, Pato Banton, Yellowman, Beenie Man, Eek-A-Mouse, Freddy MacGregor, Barrington Levy, Wailing Souls, Sizzla, Scientist and U-Roy. Along with an extensive program at iTunes, The Orchard has worked with eMusic to launch the "eMusic Dozen" on Greensleeves' peerless catalogue. The eMusic Dozen, one of the site's most popular features, includes a brief overview of a genre, era, label, place or artist, followed by concise, insightful reviews of the twelve best eMusic albums fitting the topic by the site's expert editorial staff.

Commenting on the deal, Steve Weltman, chief executive of Greensleeves' parent company The Zest Group Plc, said: "The Orchard has proven its leadership as a distribution and marketing company that puts the music first and understands how to market it. That's why we chose The Orchard, and we believe that they're better suited than any other company to help us maximize our catalogue. This is a big year for both Greensleeves and The Orchard, and we're looking forward to working together vto turn new and old fans on to some of the best reggae sounds on the planet."

"Few regions have had as much impact on the music industry as Jamaica, and Greensleeves has played a seminal role in exposing the world to that country's music, be it roots reggae to dub to dancehall," said Greg Scholl, chief executive of The Orchard. "It's time that this great music is made available to its many global fans through new digital and mobile retail channels everywhere."

top

Not long ago….

February 2007: THE ORCHARD AND HUAWEI PARTNER TO LAUNCH INNOVATIVE AND POWERFUL NEW MOBILE TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICE

Huawei Incorporates The Orchard's Vast Music CatalogueIn Groundbreaking Digital Music Service Solution

Under the agreement, Huawei will leverage the rich and extensive music catalogue and digital marketing expertise of The Orchard to launch and develop Huawei's new Active Music offering (AIMI), an integrated digital music solution based on revolutionary network-creating architecture.

Through AIMI, a powerful E2E solution, Huawei will enable mobile operators to offer their customers a powerful, private-label digital music service allowing for customization by location, demographic and customer segmentation. Mobile operators will draw from The Orchard's diverse, global catalogue and savvy marketing team to program music to satisfy the needs of each customer segment.

Huawei serves 28 of the world's top 50 mobile operators and is committed to providing innovative and customized products, services and solutions to create long-term value and potential growth for its customers. As a world leading pioneer in the digital music, Huawei has provided high-quality digital music services for 160 million subscribers all over the world.

"Huawei's vision is to enrich life through communication, and our mission is to focus on our customers' market challenges and needs by providing solutions and services that consistently create maximum value for them, and the AIMI Digital Music Solution is created to serve our customers," said Ms. Linda Shuai, Huawei Vice President, Application and Software. "The Orchard's leading position in digital music distribution and marketing adds tremendous value to our AIMI offering and we are excited about the opportunity to work together with The Orchard to further explore and develop the global digital music market."

"The Orchard not only demonstrated in-depth knowledge of the digital music market but a comprehensive understanding of the telecommunications industry and how they relate to each other, particularly in the areas of customer acquisition and retention" said Daniel Lee (Li Sheng), director of Huawei responsible for the AIMI Digital Music Solution. "We are pleased to have The Orchard as a key partner as we endeavor to play a major role in the digital music market."

"Huawei appreciates the vital role independent music plays as the lifeblood of new talent in the music industry, and with a global market share of over 30%, appreciate that it is the single largest sector of the industry. The Orchard's unprecedented catalogue of independent music, coupled with our unique strengths as marketers, make us a natural partner for Huawei as we support them in launching AIMI," said Greg Scholl, president and chief executive of The Orchard.

top

January 2007: THE ORCHARD AND MUZAK JOIN FORCES TO BRING CUTTING-EDGE MUSIC
TO 100 MILLION LISTENERS PER DAY

Marketing Alliance Extends The Orchard's Reach to Muzak's Network of Locations and Gives Muzak Access to Industry's Richest Catalogue

Under the agreement, The Orchard will provide a turn-key music licensing, publishing administration, song research, and programming solution to Muzak. The Orchard will ensure efficiency in the delivery of the right music to the right Muzak customers' locations, and accurate collection and distribution of royalties to performers and copyright owners.

Muzak CEO Stephen Villa commented: "Over the past decade, we have broadened our Audio Architecture services to reflect the increasingly varied nature of our clientele. Our alliance with The Orchard takes this effort a major step further by partnering us with the leading marketer of independent music in the world. Orchard will provide us with access to hundreds of thousands of masters from the industry's richest and most diverse independent music catalogue and will be a key partner for us in evolving our own product and service offering. We feel this is a historic deal for Muzak and, over the course of 2007, expect to share exciting new developments as we expand the nature of our Orchard relationship."

"Muzak is ubiquitous: In terms of scale, you can't top 100 million listeners per day in hundreds of thousands of locations," said Greg Scholl, chief executive of The Orchard. "But Muzak brings a lot more to the table than sheer numbers. The company's Audio Architecture and music industry savvy make it a great partner for The Orchard, with tremendous potential to provide new exposure avenues for our labels and artists. We're looking forward to using our programming expertise to work closely with Muzak and maximize these opportunities on behalf of Orchard-distributed artists, and also contribute to Muzak's continued evolution as the leading music provider to businesses worldwide."

top